Did you know?

Cervical cancer is caused by infection of the neck of the womb with a virus, called human papillomavirus. There are many types of papillomavirus and about 10 strains are able to initiate cervical cancer, in addition to a number of other rarer cancers of both men and women. Infection with the papillomavirus is common, but persistent infection leading to cancer is rare. As a result of an effective screening program for persisting infection, the Pap smear program, cervical cancer is the sixteenth most common cause of cancer mortality in Australian women, dropping from eighth place since the introduction of the National Cervical Screening Program in 1991. Nevertheless, one in every 149 women in Australia will develop cervical cancer before the age of 85 years, and many more women (about 20,000 each year) require surgical treatment for an abnormal pap smear. Now, with a cervical cancer vaccine available, this rate should decrease significantly over time.

The cervical cancer vaccines each protect against about 70% of the infections that can cause cervical cancer.

Diamantina’s research into cervical cancer

Professor Ian Frazer, along with his late colleague, Dr Jian Zhou, conducted research over many years on the papillomaviruses responsible for cervical and other cancers. This work led in 1991 to their discovery of a technology that has enabled development of the world’s first cervical cancer vaccines, known as Gardasil® and Cervarix. Gardasil® was released in 2006 and protects against two cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus, and two responsible for genital warts. Cervarix, released in 2007, protects against two cancer-causing strains. These vaccines each protect against about 70% of the infections that can cause cervical cancer. Both vaccines are now available in over 110 countries around the world and over 40 million doses of Gardasil® have been administered to date. As a result of his contributions to vaccine research, Professor Frazer was named 2006 Australian of the Year.

Cervical cancer vaccines are projected to reduce cervical cancer rates by around 50 per cent over time, once universal immunisation of young women is introduced. However, older women already infected by the human papillomavirus remain at risk, and the minority who develop cervical cancer will still need effective treatment. Associate Professor Nigel McMillan, head of the Molecular Virology Group, is investigating RNA interference (RNAi) technology as a potential new and more targeted therapy for cervical cancer. One can think of RNAi technology as the volume control on the radio – a way to turn down the expression (or volume) of single genes. Cancer is often caused by certain genes being over-expressed (or turned up far too loud). In cervical cancer, genes from the human papillomavirus are driving the cancer and Associate Professor McMillan’s group have shown in animal models that turning off these genes by RNAi can stop these cancer cells from growing and kill them.

Another holy grail of cancer research is to find ways that allow the body to “see” the cancer cells that hide from the immune system. A surprising finding from Associate Professor McMillan’s work is that RNAi can also alert the immune system to the presence of a cancer cell. This is a finding with major implications for RNAi therapy, as it may be sufficient to treat a few cancer cells to alert the immune system so that it can attack and remove the remaining tumours.

Professor Frazer and his team in the Immunotherapy Group are still researching cervical cancer, but their focus is now on designing effective therapeutics that stimulate the immune system to reject and destroy cancerous cells. T cells are white blood cells that are involved in the immune response and by increasing our knowledge of T cells and how they interact with antigens (like the human papillomavirus), we can develop better therapeutics against these viral infections and virus-induced cancers.

More information

For more detailed information about the research that is being done in the Molecular Virology and the Immunotherapy Groups, click on the links. For more information about cervical cancer, we recommend you visit the Cancer Council website. To find out more about the National HPV Vaccine program, visit the Australian Government’s Department of Health and Ageing Website.

Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women in many developing nations, as there are no cervical screening programs. It is the vision of Professor Ian Frazer to ensure that his technology reaches these women to save millions of lives from this now-preventable disease. To find out more about this initiative, please visit the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation’s website.